this output has three parts: (1) teams listed by RATING top-to-bottom&nbsp (2) DIVISION AVERAGES&nbsp (listed top-to-bottom & by conference)&nbsp (3) teams listed by DIVISION&nbsp (listed in order within divisions)

The SCHEDULE ratings represent what the rating would have to be for ahypothetical team to have a mathematical expectation of winning precisely 50%of their games against the schedule played by the team in question in the gamesthat it has played so far. The schedule difficulty of each given game takesinto account the rating of the opponent and the location of the game. Thisis the same concept that is used in computing the WIN50% conference ratings.

To make predictions for upcoming games, simply compare the RATINGS ofthe teams in question and allow an ADDITIONAL 3 points for the hometeam. Thus, for example, a HOME team with a rating of 97 would befavored by 5 points over a VISITING team having a rating of 95.Or a VISITING team with a rating of 94 would be favored by 7 pointsover a HOME team having a rating of 84.

NOTE: Use whatever home advantage is listed in the output below.&nbsp In the example just above, a home edge of 3 was shown for&nbsp illustrative purposes. The home edge will vary during the season.Several different home edges are shown, one for each of the several different type of ratingsdirectly over their respective columns.

The numbers to the right of a team's schedule strength are its rank ofschedule - (in parentheses) - and its record versus teams in theserating's CURRENT top 10&nbspand CURRENT top 16&nbsprespectively.

Teams that appear to be tied to two decimal places in a given column are actuallydifferent when carried to more decimal places in the computer's internal arithmetic.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In PURE_ELO, only winning&nbspand losing&nbspmatters; the score margin&nbspis of no consequence,which makes it very good at retro-fitting the W-L results. However it is less accurate&nbspin its predictions&nbspforupcoming games&nbspthan is the PURE POINTS, in which the score margin&nbspis the only thing&nbspthat matters.PURE POINTS&nbspis also known as PREDICTOR, BALLANTINE, RHEINGOLD, WHITE OWL&nbspand is a very good PREDICTORof future games.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GOLDEN_MEAN&nbspalso utilizes the actual SCORES&nbspof the games in a different way but is also completely SCORE BASEDand thus should be a good match for the PURE POINTS&nbspin terms of predictive accuracy for upcoming games.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The overall RATING&nbspis a synthesis&nbspof the three different methods, with more weight to the two SCORE-BASED methodsand thus should be a good predictor in its own right.

Divisional Rankings

There are three group ratings, the "central mean", the"simple average"&nbsp(also known as the "arithmetic mean",)and the WIN50%.The "central mean"&nbspgives the most weight to the middle team(s)in the group and progressively less weight to teams as you goaway from the middle in either direction, up or down.This tends to smooth out the effect of anomalous teams that are ratedmuch higher and lower than the middle team(s) in the group. The"simple average" ("arithmetic mean")&nbspweights each team equallyno matter where they are relative to the middle.Here are a few examples of how the "central mean"&nbspis computed.&nbsp 4-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-2-1&nbsp 5-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-2-1&nbsp 6-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-3-2-1&nbsp 7-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-3-2-1&nbsp 8-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1&nbsp 9-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp10-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp11-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp12-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-6-6-5-4-3-2-1&nbsp13-team group ___ the weights are 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-3-2-1This is an expanded version of the "tri-mean".

The WIN50%&nbspis the rating required to win 50% of the games if playing aninfinite number of round-robins in the given group at a neutral location.